Mike Harding
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Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is a British singer and comedian.
Harding was born in Crumpsall, a suburb of the English city of Manchester. His father, who came from Devon, was an RAF pilot who was killed during World War 2. Mike is of Irish descent on his mothers side. He is known as "The Rochdale Cowboy" after one of his hit records. He has been a broadcaster, stand up comic, photographer, traveller, film maker, playwright, poet, writer and musician.
He was educated at St Anne's, Crumpsall, and St Bede's, Manchester. After a varied career as a road digger, dustbin man, school teacher, steel erector, bus conductor, boiler scaler and chemical factory worker, he took a degree in English and Education at the University of Manchester. Following this he became a folk singer and stand-up comic, in which guise he made several series for the BBC and appeared on numerous TV and radio programmes, including two series of travel films in Ireland and the Appalachian mountains of America. He also played Rock and Roll with his band, The Stylos, with the Lowe Brothers. He has had many albums and singles released. Singles include "The Rochdale Cowboy", and the "Man 'nited Song". As well as comedy he has released albums of serious songs, most notably "Bombers Moon". The title track tells of his father's death during the war prior to Harding's birth. The album also contains "The Accrington Pals" plus covers of Bruce Springsteen's "Factory" and Eric Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda".
As well as being an acclaimed musician/comedian he wrote a book named "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" - A humorous A-Z book.
He recently made a series of fourteen short films on minority religions in England for the BBC's Heaven and Earth show, and for the last five years has presented the BBC Radio 2 flagship folk and roots programme The Mike Harding Show every Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m..
Harding is also a dedicated hillwalker and a former president of the Ramblers' Association. He writes a regular column for hiking magazine The Great Outdoors, and campaigned for "Right to Roam" legislation in the UK.
